Roofing materials



Sept. 18, 1962 M. w. BUCKNER ROOFING MATERIALS Filed April 23, 1958 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,054,222 ROOFING MATERIALS Malcolm W. Buckner, 2929 E. 62nd St., Indianapolis, Ind. Filed Apr. 23, 1958, Ser. No. 730,443 1 Claim. (Cl. 50-242) This invention relates to roofing materials, and more particularly to an improved roofing material affording protection from the elements for the fastening means employed and which is adapted to be secured in such fashion as to be impervious to wind, rain, etc., which have a deleterious effect on roofing materials in general.

The roofing material most frequently used comprises conventional shingles which are applied in overlapping relationship such that the nails, or other means of fastening, are protected from rain and other elements and so prevent the action of rust which destroys their effective holding power. This construction is effective in normal weather conditions, but the action of high winds can cause damage to such a roof by forcing the overlapping shingles upward against their direction of overlap and thus tear or otherwise damage the individual shingles.

Attempts have been made to overcome this problem by providing various forms of roofing materials which are secured at the lower edges thereof and folded back upon themselves in overlapping fashion such as to leave no loose ends to flap or be otherwise damaged by the actions of the elements thereupon. None of these proposed constructions has been acceptable in solving this problem, however, since the structures employed are prohibitively expensive and cannot compete on a commercial basis with the conventional shingle structure in general use.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a roofing material which overcomes the problems presented by conventional shingles and yet is not subject to the limitations of the prior structures in this field.

Another object of this invention is to provide a roofing material of simple construction and low cost which may compete on a commercial basis with the conventional shingle structure now used.

A further object of this invention is to provide a flexible roofing material which may be folded back upon itself in such a fashion as to protect the fastening means employed and render the roof impervious to wind damage.

In a preferred embodiment, this invention comprises an article of roofing made of a pair of elongated strips of roofing material disposed in side-by-side relationship and fastened together by a flexible waterproof tape which is bonded to adjacent edges of the elongated strips to form a flexible hinge structure.

The roofing is applied by securing the narrower of the strips to the base of the roof and then folding back the other strip in such a manner that they lie in superposed relationship, with the space therebetween closed at the lower edge by the flexible tape member. Another layer is formed by fastening the narrower strip of a second section of roofing material through the upper portion of the folded-back strip of the material already in place, and this process is repeated until the roof is completely covered.

A roof constructed in this manner is effectively secured at both the top and bottom of the exposed portions so as to be impervious to wind damage, and the fastening means employed are completely protected from rain and the action of water so that there can be no rusting of the nails or other metallic means which are conventionally used in fastening roofing materials.

This preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of uncut roofing material having a dotted line to indicate where the cut is to be made;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1, after the cutting operation has been performed;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the finished roofing material with the flexible tape member bonding together the cut portionsgand FIGS. 4 and 5 are cross sections showing the method of mounting the roofing material on a roof structure.

In its simplest form, the roofing material of this invention comprises a portion of plain or surfaced roofing 1 having an edge portion 2 thereon which is severed from the portion 1 to form two strips in side-by-side relationship. These strips are shown as being of unequal width,

since for single layer coverage of a roof, this will be the most practical choice of dimensions. It will be apparent, however, that double coverage of the roof can be effected by having the strips 1 and 2 of equal width, thereby giving double thickness throughout their width when in folded back position. While this construction is particularly well adapted for slate-surfaced or mineral surfaced roofings now in standard use, it will be understood that the particular type of roofing material is not critical and a plain or unsurfaced roofing material would serve adequately the purpose.

The strips 1 and 2 are joined together, after being severed, by means of a flexible tape 3 which is bonded to adjacent edges of the strips, thereby forming in effect a hinge which enables the strip 1 to be folded back over strip 2 when the latter-mentioned strip is secured to the roof. This flexible tape must be of substantial tensile strength since its functions are to hold together the two strips against action of the wind and elements and shield the means used for fastening the material against the ingress of Water. Among the materials well suited for such application are fiber glass, spun glass, thin paperbacked copper, coated copper, aluminum, and asphalt saturated fabrics. These materials are given by way of example only, and any flexible material having the required properties might well be adapted for this purpose. If the material chosen is not inherently waterproof, an appropriate waterproofing agent may be applied.

The flexible tape 3 is bonded to adjacent edges of the strips 1 and 2 by suitable means, such as asphalt, glue, or other suitable adhesive or binding agents. The tape 3 is sufficiently flexible to form a hinge between the strips or sections 1 and 2. The latter may be relatively stiff and inflexible, but are joined by the flexible strip in the form of a hinge.

In applying the roofing material of the instant invention, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the narrow strip 2 is nailed or otherwise secured at intervals along the length thereof to the lower edge of the base 4 of the roof, by fastenings indicated at 5. The portion 1 is then folded back in an upward direction along the roof, over the fastenings 5, and secured in place by the fastening means employed in attaching the narrow strip 2 of the next course of roofing material to be applied. This process is repeated until the roof is completely covered.

As explained heretofore, the amount of coverage attained in utilizing this construction can be varied by changing the relative widths of the strip portions 1 and 2.

The improved roofing described herein allows the folding back of relatively inexpensive, stiff or inflexible, asphalt or roll roofings which would normally break if an attempt were made to fold them back upon themselves, without providing the hinged structure of this invention. The only other way to eifect such a folded roofing with inexpensive material is to make the fold gradual by folding it over an object such that the radius of the fold is large enough to prevent breaking. This procedure, however, makes the product too bulky, the work slow, and the manufacture thereof expensive.

In contrast to this, the simple expedient of cutting the roofing and then binding it with a strong, waterproof, flexible material eliminates the above-mentioned problems, but still provides a watertight roof with no nails exposed to the weather.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in one embodiment, it is recognized that variations and changes should be made therein without departing from 10 the invention as set forth in the claim.

I claim:

In a roof covering comprising, a pair of elongated strips of substantially rigid and inflexible roofing material, one of said strips being secured to a roofing surface by fastening means, the other of said strips overlying said first-mentioned strip and the fastening means and being secured to said first-mentioned strip by flexible hinge means, said flexible hinge means consisting of a flexible strip of material extending the length of said pair 20 of strips and bonded to each adjacent edge of said pair of strips, said flexible hinge strip being folded back on 4 itself so that one portion of said hinge strip abuts the other portion of said hinge strip, and the adjacent edges of said pair of strips and the folded edge of said hinge strip all being disposed in the same plane to form a water tight seam.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 762,220 Williams June 7, 1904 1,087,321 Russell Feb. 17, 1914 1,158,266 Overbury Oct. 26, 1915 1,447,290 Fischer Mar. 6, 1923 1,894,615 Wettlaufer Ian. 17, 1933 2,192,810 Angier Mar. 5, 1940 2,252,539 Adams Aug. 12, 1941 2,402,731 Clements June 25, 1946 2,879,555 Dubecky Mar. 31, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 511,158 Canada 1955 

